


Don't be SAD

by London9Calling



Category: EXO (Band), 极限挑战 | Go Fighting! (TV)
Genre: Humor, M/M, Sexual Content, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 19:38:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8591083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/London9Calling/pseuds/London9Calling
Summary: Yixing isn’t having any of this soulmate business, thank you very much.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Showxing and Tell fest round 2016.

Yixing peered over the out-of-date computer monitor, trying to get a glimpse of what the man was typing. He was a hunt and peck typist, his fingers hovering over the keyboard as he searched for each letter. The nametag on his neatly pressed white button down said Baekhyun, with his title - SAD Clerk - in tiny little cursive letters below. His hair was neatly styled, with his bangs pressed against his forehead with hair gel.  
  
When Yixing had first sat down in the cramped windowless office he noticed that the man’s desk was devoid of pictures, which must mean he hadn’t found his soulmate yet. Or, Yixing thought was more likely, SAD (Short for the Soulmate Administration Division) had made a mistake and given his soulmate to someone else. Yixing had very little trust in the division and for good reason.  
  
“What is your error percentage?” Yixing asked, narrowing his eyes at the clerk.  
  
“Error percentage?” Baekhyun asked like he hadn’t understood.  
  
“Mistakes, how often do you make them?”  
  
“Ah, well mistakes don’t happen very often. We are 99.1% accurate.” Baekhyun seemed to lose his train of thought with Yixing’s question. He stared at the keyboard in confusion for a moment before he resumed typing.  
  
“That seems high considering how many times you guys have messed up. You know, you gave my sister the wrong soulmate.” Yixing crossed his arms against his chest, stiffening as he remembered how much pain and emotional turmoil his older sister had been through in the last twelve years – ever since SAD had screwed up.  
  
It had been rocky and inconsistent since the beginning, Yixing remembered. Her supposed soul mate was so different from her that if it wasn’t for SAD no one would have believed they should be together. It turned out SAD was wrong – and that had taken up a good portion of both of their twenties before the mistake was announced. Yixing’s older sister was still bitter about the time she spent with Zhi Xiang, a person she called “consistently immature and not willing to give me the attention I deserve.”  
  
Okay, so his sister was a little high maintenance but the fact remained, she had been given the wrong soulmate and there was no one to blame but SAD.  
  
“Hmm, is that so?” Baekhyun didn’t seem like he was listening as he slowly typed.  
  
“She thought about suing for malpractice but apparently you can’t.” Yixing remembered his mother coming home from a visit to the lawyer’s office, indignant that legally you couldn’t press charges against SAD. Something about the nature of souls and paperwork, she ranted, clearly frustrated. His sister had slinked off to her room to mope, which was her go-to action for the first year after her divorce. That had been five years ago and she was still bitter.  
  
Baekhyun lifted his hands from the keyboard and slammed them together in a loud clap. “All done! Just have to print out the profile and you’re all set to start on your path towards a lifetime of happiness!”  
  
Yixing tried not to roll his eyes. Baekhyun pursed his lips at Yixing’s lack of enthusiasm before standing up and leaving the office to retrieve the print out.  
  
“Do you need a folder?” Baekhyun asked as he sat down and shuffled through the papers.  
  
“Sure.” Yixing wanted to add ‘and you can just throw that fake soulmate report away while you get the folder’ but he held his tongue.  
  
Baekhyun rummaged around in his desk, pulling out a white envelope. “Sorry, no more folders.” He slipped the packet of papers inside and pushed it across the desk. “Thank you for answering your summons to SAD, have a wonderful, soul filled day!” Baekhyun smiled brightly, undeterred by Yixing’s look of disdain.  
  
Yixing mumbled a ‘you too’ before leaving the office with the envelope tucked in his front pocket. He was so lacking in enthusiasm for the entire soulmate business that when he got home he tossed the envelope on his dining room table and promptly forgot about it. He didn’t need to look, it wasn’t like whoever was named in the report would likely be his soulmate. Best just to forget about the entire thing.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Yixing was sprawled out on his bed, tummy pressed into the mattress, head resting on his hands, laptop in front of him playing the latest episode of his favorite variety show. He should have been doing homework but he ignored it. He was in his last semester at college, a philosophy major, and he was far from failing the class. A little break and a paper that was one day late wouldn’t hurt anything, especially when his mood was soured due to the soulmate business.  
  
When his door swung open, no knock preceding the intrusion, he groaned and paused the show.  
  
“You should know better than to leave this lying around!” A smack to his butt with a thick envelope was how his mother greeted him. “If your sister saw this…”  
  
Yixing rolled over and throwing his legs up he maneuvered to a seated position. His mother stood in front of the door (that she had closed so his sister wouldn’t hear them), hands on her hips, the thick letter crumpling in her small hands. It was still unopened, he noticed. Thankfully she hadn’t pried.  
  
“Sorry, I forgot.” Yixing sighed.  
  
After the briefest of reproving looks his mother nodded. “That is fine, just you know how she is.”  
  
“I know.” Yixing dared to wonder if he would be like that too in a few years, when SAD inevitably realized they had messed up again. No, he wouldn’t bother to even pursue whatever person they said was his soulmate – that way he wouldn’t have to go through what his sister had.  
  
His mom took a seat on the bed next to him, patting his shoulder comfortingly. She could always tell when he was troubled. “Yixing, tell me what is going through your mind?”  
  
Yixing snorted. “That everything will be wrong. That I won’t like them. That maybe this soulmate business is full of shit. That I’m not going to open that envelope. ”  
  
“Understandable.” She pushed the packet towards him. “But perhaps you should at least look at it.”  
  
“Why? They’re probably wrong anyway.” Yixing didn’t take the packet.  
  
“You know how mad I was at SAD after what happened to your sister. But Yixing, I am saying this from the bottom of my heart – they don’t make mistakes all the time. Your sister was just extremely unfortunate and it is upsetting, but perhaps you should give this soulmate a chance. I mean, we can’t sue them so we might as well get the most out of this soulmate business,” His mother joked.  
  
“But you know they might be wrong again.” Yixing didn’t like how his mother’s furor over what had happened to his older sibling seemed to have dwindled immensely since the last time she had talked about it. He wondered just why she had softened.  
  
“But they could be right,” his mom pointed out.  
  
“What made you so ready to trust them?” Yixing asked.  
  
“Oh, no reason.” His mother smiled sweetly before standing up, pointedly leaving the envelope on the bed.  
  
“I don’t believe you.” Yixing narrowed his eyes.  
  
“Fine,” his mother rolled her eyes, a gesture she did every now and then that made her look infinitely younger than her fifty years. “You seem lonely Yixing, and that bothers me.”  
  
“I’m not lonely!” That was ludicrous. He had his friends, okay friends that he saw every other week for two hours when they went to play PC games together. But he had his classmates! Who he never really talked to...okay, she might have a point. But it wasn’t like he was lonely by choice. His high school friends were all off attending different colleges while his classmates in the philosophy department were all people he had nothing in common with aside from their major. Back in high school he had a lot of close friends, many that he kept in touch with via text and email. Just not in person...  
  
“Just think of this as a good thing.” His mother offered one last reassuring smile before leaving him alone.  
  
Once she was gone he picked up the envelope, turning it over and over as he debated if he should open it. Finally he tossed it in a corner, deciding that even his mother’s words couldn’t make him budge on this. Even if his soulmate was, most likely, already looking at his profile after their own summoning to SAD, it wouldn’t matter. He wasn’t going to meet them and that was final.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Four days later Yixing got the first of many calls to his cell phone, all from an unknown number. He figured that it was his soulmate, probably calling to find out if they could meet. Voice mails and texts followed but he deleted them all. When his mother gave him suspicious looks he ignored them and when he found the envelope in the corner while cleaning he promptly dumped it into the garbage.  
  
Seven days after the calls started he was lying in bed, being lazy on a Saturday morning. He heard the doorbell ring and promptly buried his face into his pillow. It was probably someone coming over to see his sister or maybe even one of the neighborhood ladies dropping in to chat with his mom.  
  
He was blissfully hovering between sleep and wakefulness when he heard his sister shouting.  
  
“What are you doing here?!“  
  
He exhaled sharply and threw off the covers, knowing from experience that if his sister had started to shout she wouldn’t stop anytime soon. She was quite the dramatic one.  
  
Yixing pushed his feet into his slippers and tossed on a grey t-shirt before ruffling his messy hair with his hand. Looking in the small mirror by the door he tsked at his puffy face. He sighed before opening the door, expecting to see his thirty-two-year-old sister in the middle of an argument with one of her friends.  
  
When he stepped outside his room and walked down the hall he found that his sister was in an argument, though it looked to be rather one-sided and the other party was not one of her friends. It was her ex-husband.  
  
Zhi Xiang stood in the middle of the living room, flinching as his ex-wife berated him for “stopping by. I know we said we would be friends but really that was just me being polite”. He towered over her by a good eight inches, not to mention his build was on the sturdy side. Broad shoulders and thick arms made him seem bulky, a direct contradiction to his ex-wife who looked like she would blow away in the wind.  
  
It had been a while since Yixing had seen his ex-brother-in-law, but little changed – he was still dressed as stylishly as ever. Zhi Xiang’s hair was styled loosely, highlighted with blonde streaks – Yixing had always noticed the man took care of his looks. His dark eyes were trained helplessly on Yixing’s sister as she continued her rant.  
  
Yixing folded his arms and leaned against the wall, finding the entire thing at least semi-amusing. It wasn’t like Zhi Xiang was a bad guy, he really wasn’t. Despite the fact he was twelve years older than Yixing, they had always gotten along well. Zhi Xiang liked music, just like Yixing. He liked philosophy too, though he never pursued it professionally like Yixing was. He had an easygoing personality and loved to joke around. They had spent many a night hanging out and playing video games, something that Yixing could admit to missing in the last five years.  
  
“Zhi Xiang?” His mother entered the picture, walking into the living room from the kitchen with a puzzled expression on her face. Yixing knew that his mother never held a grudge against the man like his sister had, her anger at the situation had been directed at SAD. “What are you doing here?”  
  
“He was just leaving,” Yixing’s sister put her hands on her ex-husband’s arms and gently shoved him towards the front door.  
  
“No, I…” Zhi Xiang was clearly flustered, pink coloring his cheeks.  
  
“You what?”  
  
“I came to see Yixing,” Zhi Xiang announced firmly.  
  
Yixing’s sister snorted. “What?”  
  
“I came to see Yixing,” Zhi Xiang repeated.  
  
“Hey.” Yixing strolled into the living room. “Let me throw on some jeans and we can go talk somewhere else.” He thought the sooner the man was out of his sister’s sights the better.  
  
“Okay.” Zhi Xiang gave him a funny look.  
  
Yixing shrugged it off, making eye contact with his mother as he turned to go change. She appeared as confused as he was. Yixing just shook his head to confirm he had no idea what his sister’s ex wanted with him.  
  
He returned to the living room after throwing on a clean t-shirt and his favorite pair of faded jeans, replacing his slippers with slip-on shoes. His sister narrowed her eyes at him as he passed, as if to say “what are you up to?”  
  
“He said he would wait in the hall,” Yixing’s mother called after him. Yixing nodded, figuring as much.  
  
He opened the front door and stepped out into the hallway. Zhi Xiang had been reclining against the wall near the elevator. When he saw Yixing approach he grasped his hands together. He looks nervous, Yixing thought. How odd.  
  
“So what’s up?” Yixing walked over to press the elevator button, figuring that whatever Zhi Xiang wanted it didn’t involve standing in the hallway outside his apartment.  
  
“What?” Zhi Xiang’s voice cracked.  
  
Yixing turned to look at his ex-brother-in-law. He appeared disoriented, sweat was breaking out on his brow as he wrung his hands. “Are you feeling well?”  
  
The elevator dinged, the doors opening and revealing a half full space. There was an elderly couple alongside a mother and her two children. Yixing stepped inside, Zhi Xiang following. It was an awkward silence as they descended towards the ground floor.  
  
Yixing glanced at Zhi Xiang once or twice during the elevator ride, and his concern increased with each look he got at the man. He really did look ill.  
  
Maybe he wants to get back with my sister, Yixing thought. Maybe he wants my help. Zhi Xiang had always seemed to enjoy the relationship a bit more, maybe he had been in love with her after all. Yixing decided his answer would be a definite no if Zhi Xiang asked him. He knew that his sister wouldn’t go for it, any effort in that direction would be a wasted effort.  
  
When the elevator stopped at the first floor Yixing stepped aside so the others could alight. Once it was only Zhi Xiang and him left he stepped off the elevator, Zhi Xiang trailing behind him. He was halfway across the lobby of the apartment building when Zhi Xiang stopped him – or more accurately Zhi Xiang’s question stopped him.  
  
“How are you so calm?”  
  
Yixing whirled around. “What?”  
  
“You ignored my calls, my texts, and now you are pretending like this is nothing?” Zhi Xiang frowned. “I am a mess about this.”  
  
“About what?” Yixing was never the quickest to catch on, he readily accepted that about himself.  
  
“The soulmate thing!” Zhi Xiang moved closer and lowered his voice, like he was talking about a taboo subject.  
  
“What.soulmate.thing?”  
  
Zhi Xiang pulled a white envelope from his jacket pocket and waved it in front of Yixing’s face. “According to SAD we are soulmates!”  
  
“We are?” Yixing said thoughtfully, letting the reality kick in. He quickly shouted, “WE ARE?!”  
  
In less than five seconds he was falling, fainting on the spot.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Yixing batted his eyelashes as his eyes adjusted to the bright light. It took him a few seconds to remember what had happened, at least the very last thing that had happened. He was falling, and now he was…  
  
“Where am I?” Yixing sat up, dragging his hand through his hair as he looked around. He wasn’t at home or at the hospital. He was in someone’s apartment, framed posters of superheroes staring back at him as his eyes scanned the living room.  
  
“Oh thank god you are awake.”  
  
Yixing watched as his ex-brother-in-law crossed the living room, concern painting his face. He was holding a bowl of water, a towel slung over his shoulder. Yixing blinked, trying to remember why Zhi Xiang was there and more importantly why he was there as well.  
  
“We’re soulmates.”  
  
As the memory came back to him he scurried off the couch. “Don’t come any closer!”  
  
Zhi Xiang stopped walking. “You hit your head really hard when you fell. I would have taken you home but I thought you probably didn’t want me upsetting your sister more than I already had,” he rambled off an explanation.  
  
“Ah yeah,” Yixing rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Thanks then, I mean for not getting her more upset.”  
  
“No problem,” Zhi Xiang muttered, setting the bowl of water down on the dark wood coffee table. An intense atmosphere of awkwardness set in, neither man knowing exactly what to do or say.  
  
Yixing’s head was throbbing, which wasn’t helping him to digest the news. Finally, after almost a minute of standing there, he slumped back onto the couch. “They must have gotten it wrong again,” he groaned, burying his head in his hands.  
  
Of course they got it wrong but what a cruel trick to play on his family yet again. If it wasn’t bad enough that his sister was erroneously matched with Zhi Xiang twelve years ago now it was his turn.  
  
Yixing felt the couch jostle under him as Zhi Xiang took a seat.  
  
“I’ve been a mess since I got the summons,” the older man said quietly. “And then when I opened it I panicked, tried to call and message you for days…”  
  
“I didn’t even open it,” Yixing explained, his words muffled by his hands.  
  
“Well that explains why you reacted the way you did,” Zhi Xiang chuckled.  
  
Yixing lowered his hands and looked over at his ex-brother-in-law. He was perched on the edge of the sofa, hands clasped in front of him, his hair hanging over his brow. He looked as lost as Yixing felt, his shoulders slumped forward as he stared at the coffee table.  
  
“We should go to SAD tomorrow and tell them they made a mistake,” Yixing remarked, not wanting this ordeal to go on longer than it had to. If his sister caught wind of this there would be a mess, most certainly.  
  
“Do you have class tomorrow?” Zhi Xiang asked.  
  
“Not until the afternoon.”  
  
“I can pick you up first thing in the morning.” Zhi Xiang stated, then added, “If you get up early. I remember you used to like to sleep in late.”  
  
“Morning is good.”  
  
“Ok.”  
  
Silence set in. After a few minutes Yixing stood and rambled off that he would take a taxi home. Zhi Xiang didn’t argue, muttering a quick goodbye and letting Yixing see himself out.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“So you see, gentlemen,” Baekhyun tapped his computer monitor, “There was no mistake.”  
  
Yixing and Zhi Xiang sat in the two faded chairs facing Baekhyun’s desk, fully expecting him to launch into an animated apology about the newest SAD mistake. Apparently an apology was not forthcoming.  
  
“Impossible,” Yixing scoffed. “Check again.”  
  
There was no way that Zhi Xiang was his soulmate. It just couldn’t be. When he had gotten home the day before he had dug the unopened envelope out of the garbage and pulled out the report, laughing hysterically at the fact Zhi Xiang’s profile stared back at him.  
  
“Sir, the algorithms used to match souls are not a laughing matter. Your souls are 100% compatible and, according to the most sophisticated soul matching techniques known to the human race, have spent a good many lives together.” Baekhyun gave Yixing a challenging look.  
  
“That’s what you told my sister and look what happened to her!” Yixing didn’t get mad often, but his anger was starting to show. He slammed his fist onto the desk, causing Baekhyun to jump. “There is no way that he is my soulmate.”  
  
“Yixing,” Zhi Xiang said gently, reaching out and placing his arm over Yixing’s as if to tell him to calm down.  
  
“While your sister may have been one of the statistically unfortunate people, and on behalf of SAD I deeply apologize, it is nigh impossible we would make the same error again. You are 100% soulmates.” Baekhyun scooted his chair back a few inches just in case Yixing leapt over the desk and throttled him.  
  
Yixing bit his bottom lip and narrowed his eyes. “I want to talk to your supervisor.”  
  
“Very well.” Baekhyun pressed a button on his desk phone and within a few minutes an older man wearing a neatly pressed suit walked into Baekhyun’s office.  
  
“I heard you have a complaint.” The man – his nametag said Honglei – smiled as he looked between Yixing and Zhi Xiang.  
  
“You made a mistake.” Yixing tapped his finger on the report that Baekhyun had printed out. “Wrong soulmate. You did the same thing to my sister.”  
  
The entire time Zhi Xiang had sat quietly, other than the occasional times he softly said Yixing’s name in an effort to try to get him to calm down. Now that the supervisor was here he seemed to find his voice. “I was previously matched to Mr. Zhang’s sister and we lived a very unhappy life until SAD admitted they made a mistake. As Mr. Zhang mentioned, it seems highly improbable that we would be soulmates given my past association with his sister.”  
  
Yixing looked at Zhi Xiang in amazement. He sounded so calm and collected, levelheaded...adult like. Yixing was impressed.  
  
“Ah, I see the problem.” The supervisor kept smiling. “You were one of the very few that had a shifting in your matches. Unfortunately – and SAD does apologize for any inconvenience it caused – you were matched with another person in your soulmate’s family. A shifting of the soulmate number system if you will. Only a few people were affected. So you see, you being matched as soulmates is perfectly logical, and in fact makes perfect sense. It is because of your history with Mr. Zhang’s sister that I can assure you no mistake has been made.”  
  
“But you found the error five years ago!” Yixing still wasn’t buying it.  
  
“It takes time to rerelease soul information into the database,” Honglei explained. “Sirs, though I wouldn’t recommend it I would like to remind you that even if you are soulmates there are no laws requiring you to be together. Of course your eternal happiness and love of life may be affected, but ultimately it is up to you what you do with the information SAD provides. So please, even if you are unhappy with the results, know that you are free to make your own decisions.”  
  
Yixing looked at Zhi Xiang. The older man shrugged, “I suppose he has a point. This doesn’t mean anything.”  
  
“Well I wouldn’t say that, but it doesn’t mean you have to act on it,” Baekhyun butted in.  
  
“Fine. Then let’s pretend this didn’t happen.” Yixing stood up and stalked out of the room, leaving Zhi Xiang behind. If SAD was so certain Zhi Xiang was his soulmate, so be it. He would flout social norms and just ignore it, pretending like he never got his match to begin with. So what if everyone else married their soulmate and lived happy lives. He wouldn’t.  
  
Yixing decided he would be different.  
  
  
  
  
  
 _4 Years Later_  
  
“So I said, you aren’t going to get anywhere with your laptop at the bottom of a river!”  
  
Loud laughter rang out, intermingling with the restaurant’s indie rock playlist and the din of the other patron’s conversations. Four small dining tables had been pushed together to form one long, hastily created table that housed ten of the junior employees of a moderately sized trading firm. The table was covered in beer bottles, plates with half eaten appetizers, and scattered napkins. Faux stained glass lights hung overhead – the kind that had beer emblems instead of floral motifs. And in the third chair from the end of the table, closest to the door, sat Yixing, beer in hand and smile on his face. He was dressed in suit pants and a white button down, his black tie loosened around his neck, a mirror image of the nine co-workers he was hanging out with.  
  
Yixing fiddled with his beer cap as he laughed with the others, his mind rather uncomplicated at the moment. They had just landed a huge deal which was accompanied with their boss handing over the corporate credit card as a reward.  
  
“I can’t believe you did that!” Zitao, one of the youngest of the employees (only recently elevated from intern status) beamed at Luhan, who had just regaled the group with one of his adventures on his first business trip.  
  
“Ah, well, you know I didn’t have much choice,” Luhan chuckled.  
  
Yixing smirked at the man and then shook his head. Luhan was his cubicle mate and quite honestly was one of the most entertaining people Yixing had ever worked with – not that he had worked with a lot of people. He had taken the job a year after he finished college (which incidentally was a semester later than he thought he would). He hadn’t wanted to continue on to get a masters, and his bachelor's wasn’t getting him anywhere in his chosen field, which led him towards a long and pitiful job hunt. He had only managed to land this position because his mother was friends with one of the senior partners.  
  
“Hey, you want to go to karaoke after this?” Luhan nudged Yixing, lowering his voice.  
  
“Nah, I need to sleep.” Yixing yawned.  
  
Luhan clucked his tongue. “Sleep is for old people, come on.”  
  
“We aren’t exactly getting younger,” Yixing pointed out. He had just turned 26, he might not be old but he valued at least four hours of sleep a night.  
  
“Cooome on,” Luhan whined, tugging on Yixing’s sleeve.  
  
“Fine, but only for an hour.” Yixing caved, earning a wide smile from his co-worker.  
  
Two hours later Luhan hailed a cab outside the restaurant, hooking his arm around Yixing’s neck playfully and dragging him into the waiting car. Zitao joined them alongside one of their Korean co-workers, a happy go lucky guy named Sehun.  
  
It was a drunken ramble to the karaoke room, the group only slightly sobered as they staggered into the place. After Luhan shoved the corporate card towards the host they were led to a room, Zitao and Sehun immediately going to work programming the karaoke machine.  
  
Yixing flopped down on the sofa, laughing as Sehun and Zitao started a tugging match with the controls. He didn’t notice Luhan had stepped out of the room until he stumbled in a couple minutes later with a guest.  
  
“Guys, guyyysssss,” Luhan slurred. “This guy isss the one I told you about. The one who taught me everythinggg I need to know when I was an intern at the other company. Youuu knooow the one I told you about with the stuff and the machines.”  
  
Yixing glanced towards the door, instantly sobering. Luhan had his arm around the shoulder of a tall man – someone Yixing was very familiar with.  
  
“That isn’t true, you made a mess of things without my help.” Zhi Xiang tsked at Luhan. “How much have you had to drink?”  
  
“Only a – “Luhan swayed on his feet, “a little.”  
  
Zhi Xiang laughed, that boisterous and deep sound that Yixing remembered. He finally looked over, their eyes locking.  
  
“Yixing?” Zhi Xiang furrowed his brow.  
  
“H-hi,” Yixing managed to stutter.  
  
“You guys know each other?” Sehun asked as he let Zitao win the fight for the remote.  
  
“Do you work with Luhan?” Zhi Xiang asked, not answering the question.  
  
“Uh, yeah.” Yixing felt all kinds of awkward.  
  
“I can’t believe you guys know each other!” Luhan swayed, leaning his weight into Zhi Xiang. “Smaaall wworld.”  
  
“Hmm.” Zhi Xiang muttered. “Have a good night guys. Get home safely.”  
  
The locked eyes again and Yixing felt his stomach turn. The dark eyes that stared back at him were unreadable, Zhi Xiang didn’t betray a hint of emotion. Perhaps that was the worst part of it, next to the fact that Yixing was suddenly beyond curious. When the older man turned and walked out of the room Yixing had a desire to ask him to stay.  
  
Something in the pit of his stomach that was unwelcome.  
  
“Hey, you can stay!” Luhan called after Zhi Xiang.  
  
Yixing waited a few minutes before he offered an excuse about being tired and too drunk to want to sing. He caught a cab, his mind a blur of confusing thoughts.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
As much as he wanted to escape Zhi Xiang, as much as he wanted to forget he had run into him and avoid the strange things it did to him, the world had other ideas.  
  
The next day he was dragged out to lunch by a very hungover Luhan. “Come on, I can’t go alone.”  
  
Yixing had agreed to it, but regretted it the moment he walked into the small diner and noticed a familiar man sitting at the long counter.  
  
“Zhi Xiang!” Luhan perked up from his fatigued state instantly. He straightened his tie and walked over to the man who apparently had taught him everything he needed to know.  
  
Yixing hung back, hoping that Zhi Xiang wouldn’t see him. Maybe he would just say hi to Luhan and then Yixing could sneak past him and never have to talk to him. Or…  
  
“You should eat with us!” Luhan gestured towards an empty booth. Zhi Xiang looked over his shoulder, his back straightening when he spotted Yixing.  
  
Yixing looked away as soon as their eyes locked. He felt a tug in his chest, and the same sense of apprehension pooling in his stomach.  
  
“I was just going, actually.” Zhi Xiang stood up. “But it was nice seeing you both again.”  
  
Luhan frowned and stepped aside to let Zhi Xiang pass. When the older man walked past Yixing he could almost swear something abnormal happened. It was perceptible, the way he wanted to look back at his ex-brother-in-law. The way he wanted to see him as he left, to watch his back disappear down the bustling city street. A pull, a tug like a magnet– it was there whether he liked it or not.  
  
Yixing shoved it from his mind as quickly as he could. He didn’t turn around. He didn’t admit anything. He ate lunch quickly, trying to forget that he had ran into Zhi Xiang yet again.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Five days passed before Yixing decided to do something about the strange, gnawing feeling that wouldn’t leave him, the way he dissected the run-in with Zhi Xiang over and over until he thought he would go mad. It was building up, distracting him, and he hated it.  
  
It was all mental, he told himself. Knowing that Zhi Xiang had been matched with him made him start to doubt things, to overread into certain situations, and to overreact. He needed something to quell this out of line behavior, to stop him from nitpicking at two chance encounters with his former brother-in-law.  
  
“A blind date?” His mother peeked over her newspaper, her reading glasses perched on the bridge of her nose as she gave her son a puzzled expression. “You want me to set you up on a blind date?”  
  
Yixing nodded. “Mom, you must know someone who wants their daughter or son to date, maybe get some experience before they are matched? Or maybe people who don’t believe in SAD at all….”  
  
Okay, so it was probably a bit of a hard request to fulfill. But Yixing hadn’t come up with anyone else he could really ask. His friends at work were waiting for their assignments or already had them. And there weren’t really matchmaking services out there, since SAD took care of it. He had rested on asking his mother as he took the subway home for his usual weekend visit, the sight of a couple cuddling in the corner pushing his frustration into action.  
  
“I don’t think I do,” his mother answered firmly.  
  
“Oh,” Yixing had the week’s crossword puzzle on his lap. He went back to contemplating the answer to down 84, disappointed but resigned to his fate.  
  
“Yixing?” his mother asked slowly a few minutes later. He looked up to see that she looked strangely reserved. “I might be able to set you up with someone.”  
  
“Really?” He felt a surge of happiness.  
  
She nodded. “Yeah, I think I have just the person.”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
In retrospect he should have known better than to ask his mom, especially since she had been particularly sulky in the last year since, in her words, “my children are destined to be forever alone.”  
  
He should have known better than to expect anything different when he walked into the restaurant, smiling faintly at the romantic ambiance. He was dressed in black slacks and a purple button down, formal yet casual. When he gave the hostess his name, she smiled and informed him his date was already there.  
  
Great, Yixing thought, I like punctual people. She led him into the dining room, towards the back where the lighting was lower and the tables were further apart. He was lost in his own hopeful fantasies so he didn’t pay attention to much of what was going on, other than following after the black clad hostess.  
  
“Here you are, sir.” She politely gestured towards a table.  
  
Yixing stilled as he looked at his date.  
  
“Yixing?” Zhi Xiang set his wineglass down, nearly spilling it as he stared open mouthed at the new arrival.  
  
Yixing’s tongue felt thick and useless as he stared at the one man he absolutely did not want to be set up with.  
  
The hostess was hanging back awkwardly, trying not to look as the two men gaped at each other. Finally she cleared her throat, sending Yixing into action. He bumbled over to the chair, sitting down.  
  
“Your waiter should be with you shortly,” the hostess announced, hurrying away from the tension that hung over the two men.  
  
“I can’t believe she set me up with you,” Zhi Xiang clucked his tongue before a heavy sigh escaped his lips.  
  
“Same.” Yixing had a mind to call his mother as soon as he could and tell her that her joke was not very funny.  
  
“She said it was the son of her favorite person, I thought I was doing her a favor,” Zhi Xiang bemoaned.  
  
Okay, so that did sound exactly like his mother. “Should we just–”  
  
The waiter picked that time to approach, handing out the menus and asking what they would like to drink. Zhi Xiang smoothly ordered more wine, causing Yixing to give him a funny look.  
  
“You aren’t planning on staying, are you?” Yixing had assumed now that they discovered his mother’s little joke they would part ways.  
  
Zhi Xiang shrugged. “We are here, we might as well eat.”  
  
He did have a point. Yixing scanned the menu, feeling nervous about having dinner with Zhi Xiang. He had to remind himself that the person across the table, the thirtysomething-year-old man wearing the designer suit, used to be his brother-in-law. They used to hang out, they used to chatter easily without a problem. He needed to calm down, he needed to push the stupid soulmate thing from his mind if he wanted to survive the next hour.  
  
“Have you ever eaten here?” Zhi Xiang asked, peering over the large rectangular menu. Yixing shook his head. “I came here once, the mutton is to die for.”  
  
Yixing wondered if the time Zhi Xiang had been here he was on a date. Or maybe he was with Yixing’s sister. “Sounds good, I’ll get that or whatever you are having.”  
  
“Easy to please, so different than your sister,” Zhi Xiang chuckled under his breath. When the waiter returned Zhi Xiang placed the order, even pronouncing the French words correctly.  
  
Yixing sipped on his wine, vaguely aware that getting a little tipsy in this situation might not be for the best. Yet he wanted to calm his nerves and a glass of wine would do the trick, he knew from experience.  
  
“How is the job?“ The older man settled back in his chair, looking as relaxed as Yixing was nervous.  
  
It was stupid, why was he feeling this way? Having dinner with Zhi Xiang wasn’t something to get nervous about. They had decided four years ago that they would dismiss SAD’s mistake and go on with things. Dinner was just dinner, there was no reason to over analyze the situation.  
  
“Good.” he thought his voice came out squeaky. Breathe, breathe, Yixing, he repeated in his mind. “I am fairly new but I like the work. When did you meet Luhan, by the way?”  
  
“He was an intern, though a rather….” Zhi Xiang smirked.  
  
“Hyper one? Lazy? Did everything but work?” Yixing guessed.  
  
Zhi Xiang laughed. “So he hasn’t changed a bit.”  
  
“Nope,” Yixing confirmed. This small talk was nice, burden free. He could do this.  
  
“So how long have you worked at your job?” Yixing queried.  
  
“Um, well about three years now. It pays better than the last one, plus more vacation time.” Zhi Xiang launched into a humorous description of his work and those he worked with and for (including a man who seemed to not understand the concept of trading to begin with, turned out he was the president’s son). When the food arrived Yixing was feeling completely at ease, the apprehension completely gone.  
  
They laughed and chatted while eating, getting lost in funny anecdote after funny anecdote. When Yixing went to refill his wine glass and realized the bottle was empty, it hit him how much time had passed. How easily it had passed.  
  
“This was fun, we should do it again sometime,” Zhi Xiang said.  
  
“Okay.” It was easy to agree to. It was like old times, when Zhi Xiang was like the older brother Yixing had never had. He didn’t realize until now how much he had missed having him around, how that spot in his life had never been replaced after the divorce.  
  
Suddenly he could care less about the soulmate business because it just felt great to be around an old friend. He felt foolish for ever getting nervous about it. When they parted that evening they exchanged numbers, promising to catch up sometime that weekend.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
When Yixing got a text after getting home that night, mentioning they should go to a sports game on Saturday, Yixing found a smile creeping onto his face. He texted back a ‘sure’ before heading off to bed.  
  
When the next day Zhi Xiang texted him a funny news article, he laughed and thanked him.  
  
When Friday rolled around and they exchanged a string of texts over how much they just needed the day to be over, Yixing felt good.  
  
When Saturday rolled around and Zhi Xiang picked Yixing up from his apartment in his shiny black sports car, Yixing hopped in without hesitation.  
  
“Ready?” Zhi Xiang asked, looking every bit as cheerful as Yixing felt.  
  
“Yeah. But where are we going exactly?” Zhi Xiang hadn’t divulged which sporting event they would be going to, only that he had tickets. Yixing had tried to look up who all was playing but found a long list and little clues.  
  
“You’ll see when we get there.” Zhi Xiang turned away from the wheel for a moment and winked.  
  
Yixing tried to laugh the gesture off, but in all honesty that wink had made his heart leap. Stupid wink. Stupid heart.  
  
Yixing tried to forget his reaction as Zhi Xiang asked him to find something to listen to on the radio. He fiddled until he found a rock station.  
  
He was surprised when Zhi Xiang began singing, knowing the words to the first two songs.  
  
“I thought you liked pop?” Yixing had remembered as much from when Zhi Xiang was married to his sister. The only music he ever heard in their house or car was the latest pop song.  
  
“Your sister likes pop,” Zhi Xiang corrected.  
  
“Ah.” Of course he listened to it because his wife listened to it.  
  
They jammed out for the rest of the drive, Yixing showing his best air guitar as Zhi Xiang beat on the steering wheel. Yixing was so into it he nearly missed the fact they were pulling into a parking lot.  
  
Yixing blinked, looking around. There wasn’t a stadium or a field in sight. In fact the only thing he could make out was a building that looked half run down, a picture of a roller skate hanging over the door. “Are we just stopping for a moment or…?”  
  
“Nope, this is where we’re going.” Zhi Xiang parked the car in the angle parking, one side of it dipping a little lower due to a pothole in the decaying parking lot.  
  
“What kind of sporting event takes place here?” Yixing asked as he followed Zhi Xiang into the building. The moment he stepped inside he grimaced. It smelled a little like sweat and stale cotton candy.  
  
“Roller derby.” Zhi Xiang pulled two tickets from his jacket. When Yixing read the print on the tickets his eyes grew wide.  
  
“But that says to participate in roller derby, not watch!”  
  
“Yep. So for a team name I was thinking we could do the Excellent Bros since we are ex-in-laws.”  
  
“I–okay, um–” Yixing trailed after Zhi Xiang as he approached the woman who was running the counter, a fifty something lady who looked like she had emptied half a can of hairspray on her head.  
  
“Two for the next round.” Zhi Xiang pushed the tickets across the counter. The attendant blew a bubble of bubble gum, the fading pink candy popping as she grabbed the tickets. “You’re up in twenty minutes, changing rooms are that way.”  
  
She handed over a couple of keys on brightly colored plastic key rings. Zhi Xiang swiped them off the counter and handed one to Yixing. “For the lockers,” he explained.  
  
“Lockers?” Yixing asked, feeling frightened. He had heard of roller derby once or twice but he had no inclination to ever play it. In fact he had never actually seen it being played so he wasn’t entirely sure what it entailed.  
  
“Yeah, you need to change into your skates, plus drop off your phone and stuff. Unless you want it breaking on the rink.”  
  
“Why would it break?” Yixing palmed his phone, tucked safely into his front pocket.  
  
“All the hitting, of course. Collisions, elbows.” Zhi Xiang pushed open the swinging door that was under a sign that said skates.  
  
Yixing swallowed. Collision. Elbows. Hitting. Sounded lovely.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Forty minutes later Yixing was skating around a rink, his hair sticking to his sweaty forehead as he tried to knock down his opponents. They were brothers – twenty something guys with big muscles and the most ridiculous of costumes. One of the brothers had a mean elbow jab, sending Yixing flying into the sidelines twice so far.  
  
It was infuriating to be pushed around, but dare Yixing admit it he found the entire thing exhilarating. By the time the game was over, with Yixing and Zhi Xiang taking the win, he had become a fan.  
  
He skated across the rink to Zhi Xiang as their victory was announced, throwing himself into the other man. They shared a victory hug, making guttural noises as they began to point at and belittle their opponents. The brothers slinked back to the changing room with frowns on their faces.  
  
“We should do this again sometime!” Yixing screamed over the music, a blaring eye of the tiger playing from the ancient looking loudspeakers for their victory song.  
  
Zhi Xiang agreed, smiling widely as they took a victory lap.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“So….you haven’t called or come to see me in a few days.” Yixing’s mom had a way of speaking when she was curious, her words always lilting up as she tried not to sound eager for an answer or explanation.  
  
After having dinner with Zhi Xiang Yixing had forgotten to call her and complain about her joke. He hadn’t stopped by that weekend because after roller derby he had ended up marathoning Star Trek with Zhi Xiang until late at night, and then of course the next day they decided to visit the newly opened escape room by Zhi Xiang’s apartment. In fact he hadn’t thought of his mother at all until she called him midweek, clearly wanting to know if he was too angry at her to talk to her or if her plan had worked.  
  
“I’m not mad,” Yixing confirmed, only half paying attention. He was on his laptop, checking out a new music site Zhi Xiang had recommended.  
  
“Well you better not be, you don’t have any reason to be.” Her tone changed back to her normal mom tone now that she knew her son didn’t hate her. “Did you have fun?”  
  
“Hmm.” Yixing was too busy scrolling through songs to give her a full word answer.  
  
“Are you guys going out again?”  
  
Yixing realized the entire playlist for one of his favorite bands – the one that he could never find online before – was on the site. “Gotta go mom, love ya.” He hung up and tossed his phone onto the couch cushions, ready to rock out for the next couple of hours.

 

It happened so naturally Yixing didn’t have time to second guess it. Pretty soon he was hanging out with Zhi Xiang on weeknights, almost every other day in fact. They would watch prime time television together (Yixing was a sucker for crime shows) or play video games (Zhi Xiang was amazing at them). They would walk to the fast food joint near Yixing’s apartment and gorge themselves when they were feeling lazy and when they were motivated they drove to a diner and sat and talked for an hour or two.  
  
Pretty soon it was routine, an expectation, for Zhi Xiang to stop by after work or Yixing to take a taxi over to Zhi Xiang’s place. And as two weeks turned into two months of it, Yixing tried not to read too much into what they were doing. Like how this friendship was a lot closer than they were back when Zhi Xiang had been married to his sister. Or how sometimes he couldn’t help but look over at the older man and appreciate how handsome he was – and then subsequently have a hell of a time looking away.  
  
He buried such thoughts by staying busy at work and busy after work. He buried those thoughts by appreciating having a friend he could count on, the older brother he never had, the guy he could laugh about dumb things with, do dumb things with, the guy he could make jokes with and be honest with without facing judgement.  
  
He buried and he buried, afraid to think of the one thing that had kept him from being around Zhi Xiang to begin with.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
When summer rolled around it was Yixing who had the idea first. “I have some paid time off to burn, we should go to the beach.”  
  
Zhi Xiang had readily agreed. He had just finished a big project at work and had been complaining about being overly tired of late. A day at the beach would be good for him.  
  
Yixing drove them an hour to the closest sandy beach, proudly showing off his new car. He had gotten a good raise that year due to a few pointers Zhi Xiang had given him, allowing him to purchase a vehicle that did not blow acrid black smoke from the tail pipe.  
  
They were both on cloud nine as they made the journey, laughing and joking as Zhi Xiang played an album from his favorite comedian. When they got to the beach Yixing immediately noted the lack of cars.  
  
“Looks like we get it all to ourselves!” He yelled, feeling the excitement grow at the thought of not only a beach day, but a beach day without having to deal with loud kids and sunbathers.  
  
“E. Coli,” Zhi Xiang suddenly said, frowning. Yixing looked over to see Zhi Xiang starting at something, when he followed his gaze he spotted the sign sticking up from the sand.  
  
 _Closed due to high levels of E.coli._  
  
“Closed?!” Like that all of the excitement died, deflating into a sense of hopelessness. “How can it be closed? Now what do we do?”  
  
“We could...um…” Zhi Xiang looked thoughtful.  
  
“I guess we might as well turn back,” Yixing said glumly, regretting he hadn’t thought of looking up if the beach was closed before he had driven so far.  
  
“No! There has to be something to do around here. I mean, there is a beach and…” Zhi Xiang pulled out his phone and began searching for something else to do. Yixing waited, staring out to the beach like a rejected lover; his eyes half fond but his lips downturned in a sneer. Stupid beach.  
  
“How do you feel about wobbly painting?” Zhi Xiang stared at the webpage, the first things-to-do link he found on the local tourism page.  
  
“Wobbly painting?” Yixing asked, confused.  
  
“Um, drink wine and paint or something. I don’t know it says it is close to here.”  
  
“Drunk painting it is!” Yixing said excitedly, putting the car into gear as he asked for directions to the place.  
  
When they arrived at the shop they found the parking lot empty, which made them both panic that they had yet again walked into a situation like what had occurred at the beach. When Yixing spotted the neon pink open sign in the window he felt relieved.  
  
When they entered the shop they were greeted by a hyper man who practically bounded from behind the desk. “Welcome! Welcome!”  
  
“Um, two for painting.” Zhi Xiang held up two fingers, which was met with an excited ramble from the employee.  
  
“Great! Right this way,” he gestured for Yixing and Zhi Xiang to follow him into the back room. “We have a long wine list, and spirits as well if you are so inclined. And I don’t mean the ghost kind either.” He chuckled to himself before continuing, “You can find smocks hanging on the wall and canvases are ready. Have either of you ever painted?”  
  
Yixing shook his head.  
  
“I suggest you try to paint each other, that way you have something in front of you for reference,” the man rattled off.  
  
Yixing caught Zhi Xiang’s eyes, giving him a “seriously” look. Zhi Xiang chuckled but said, “I think that is a great idea.”  
  
They ended up perched on stools, sipping an excellent zinfandel, and making a colossal mess of each other’s faces. Yixing couldn’t paint to save his soul and the warm, tingly feeling the wine gave him was not helping his already subpar talents.  
  
“We should paint him,” Zhi Xiang leaned over, whispering to Yixing. “The weird dude.”  
  
Yixing thought about the strange man who had led them in. Paint him? That sounded marvelously mischievous. Yixing picked up the paint brush and did his best to turn Zhi Xiang into weird dude Periodically Zhi Xiang would break into laughter, Yixing following purely because Zhi Xiang laughing never failed to make him want to laugh too.  
  
“How’s the painting coming?” the employee called into the room, never actually stepping foot inside to see what they were doing.  
  
“Great!” Zhi Xiang called back.  
  
In another half an hour they were done, both the proud artist behind….  
  
“Um, can you even tell mine is a person?” Zhi Xiang asked, turning his head side to side to try to make sense of what he just created.  
  
“Kind of. How about mine?”  
  
“Nope,” Zhi Xiang answered immediately.  
  
They carried the canvases out of the workroom, and down the long hall. The employee met them near the counter. “Now let me see your beautiful paintings!”  
  
When they showed him he narrowed his eyes, looking a bit confused. “What accurate depictions of each other!”  
  
“It’s you actually. My friend and I thought you were a far better subject.” Zhi Xiang handed the man his painting, the man’s face flaming red. Yixing set his on the counter, giving the man a wink before he jogged after Zhi Xiang.  
  
When they stumbled into the parking lot they were both laughing.  
  
“I don’t know why that is funny, but it is,” Yixing said in between laughs.  
  
Zhi Xiang slung his arm around Yixing’s shoulder. “It was hilarious. Now come on, let’s go get something to eat before we head home.”  
  
Yixing wouldn’t argue. He couldn’t. Not when he was having so much fun.  
  
  
  
  
  
“Something is different about you,” Luhan remarked over coffee the next morning.  
  
“Hmm?” Yixing didn’t understand what he meant.  
  
“You seem happier. Less stressed.” Luhan narrowed his eyes at his friend. “Are you taking drugs now?”  
  
“No!” Yixing protested.  
  
“Well whatever it is, tell me so I can do it too.” Luhan waited, but Yixing didn’t have a secret.  
  
“I don’t know. I’m just doing the same old stuff.” Yixing shrugged. Except that he wasn’t. Was hanging out with Zhi Xiang having that much of an effect on him?  
  
He had been having a lot more fun lately. A looot more fun. Ever since Zhi Xiang had come back into his life he had even been laughing more at work. Sure, he was more relaxed. But did he want to admit it was because of his ex-brother-in-law?  
  
He knew the answer was not really.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“You can’t go to a zombie walk looking like that!” Yixing scolded the taller man, tsking at his half done makeup.  
  
“I tried,” Zhi Xiang said, his words coming out in half a whine. HIs dark circles and grey face paint were barely covering his face, while there wasn’t one sore or ugly scar in sight. Yixing as appalled.  
  
“Sit,” Yixing directed. They were at Yixing’s apartment, preparing themselves for their first ever zombie walk. It was a spur of the moment thing, like most of the things they did. Yixing saw it online and – even if it was only five hours until it started – decided it was a great idea. Zhi Xiang agreed, of course.  
  
After a quick trip to the drugstore to pick up makeup, they went to work zombie-fying themselves. Well, Yixing did. Zhi Xiang slapped some makeup on and looked a bit lost.  
  
“Sit down and I‘ll fix it.”  
  
“Yes, sir.” Zhi Xiang sat on the closed toilet seat, while Yixing stood in front of him with a makeup brush in hand. He began by dapping a big dollop of red makeup on Zhi Xiang’s left cheek, hoping to make a scar out of it.  
  
He leaned in, so focused on his work he failed to realize how close their faces were. Not until his eyes met Zhi Xiang’s and for a brief second his gaze flickered lower, to the older man’s lips.  
  
He pulled back like he had been burnt, clearing his throat and digging for some white makeup. “This is going to look really cool, trust me.”  
  
“I trust you,” Zhi Xiang said quietly.  
  
When Yixing went back to dabbing makeup on his cheek, he was met with a smirk. He finished quickly, deeming Zhi Xiang an appropriate zombie.  
  
A couple hours later they staggered down a street with four dozen other zombies, while Michael Jackson’s Thriller played in the background. It was fun, it was exhilarating, and it was another hilarious experience. And even if there had been another awkward moment in there, Yixing was glad he had done it.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“A duet competition.” Yixing frowned at the sign. It was in the window of the bar, promising a cash prize for the winners.  
  
“You really think we are going to walk in and not do it?” Zhi Xiang laughed.  
  
They were out for drinks on a Saturday night, trying out a new bar that had opened near Zhi Xiang’s apartment.  
  
“Can we sing some cheesy show tune?” Yixing asked, suddenly getting into the idea.  
  
“Only if it is something from Cats,” Zhi Xiang opened the door to the bar, gesturing for Yixing to enter.  
  
“Deal.”  
  
They sang the Meow Song, completely off key, but somehow they still won. Zhi Xiang insisted Yixing keep the trophy. He put it next to his new pair of roller skates on the shelf in his living room. Another funny and carefree memory.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Zhi Xiang was laughing. Zhi Xiang was laughing and looked happy. Maybe even joyful, if Yixing was being honest with himself. And the reason that Zhi Xiang looked joyful made Yixing’s blood boil.  
  
He wasn’t that tall, maybe a little shorter than Yixing. He had wide eyes that really stood out – aside from how handsome he was, which also stood out. And he was currently saying something to Zhi Xiang that had the other man looking like he had won the lottery and woke up on Christmas morning all at once. And Yixing wasn’t happy about any of it.  
  
He watched the pair, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew watching was the wrong word. He was glaring, boring holes in the two men with his eyes.  
  
How this usurper had managed to wander up and steal Zhi Xiang’s attention was beyond Yixing. He had only been gone for a second, jogging off to the refreshment stand to pick up a few sodas. They were enjoying a baseball game. Well, they were enjoying it – that is until this charlatan came and monopolized Zhi Xiang.  
  
Yixing stalked up to the pair and without a thought all but melded to Zhi Xiang’s side. “Here is your soda.” He held the drink out, not bothering to acknowledge the other man.  
  
Zhi Xiang gave him a funny look but took the offered soft drink. “Thanks. Yixing, this is Kyungsoo. He used to work with me.”  
  
Yixing narrowed his eyes at the man, who looked at him with an unreadable expression.  
  
“I um, need to get back. My wife is probably wondering where I went off too. Good seeing you, Zhi Xiang.” Kyungsoo flashed a smile and then turned and went back towards the direction of the bleachers.  
  
Yixing wasn’t done glaring at him, however, not looking away until he disappeared down the steps.  
  
“You okay?”  
  
Yixing snapped out of…whatever he was doing. “Yeah, totally fine. Let’s watch the game.”  
  
Zhi Xiang nodded. He slipped his arm around Yixing’s shoulders and they walked back towards their seats. Yixing didn’t want to admit that having Zhi Xiang’s arm over him made him feel some sort of victory.  
  
  
  
  
  
Luhan had a habit of leaning over the wall of Yixing’s cubicle when he wanted something. It helped that the wall was short - only about half the height of a normal cubicle wall. It also helped Luhan was on the taller side, if he leaned forward he was practically in Yixing’s face. It was hard to miss.  
  
“So…”  
  
“So.” Yixing retorted, not looking up from his monitor.  
  
“Guess who I ran into?” Luhan asked, clearly hinting at something.  
  
“No clue.” Yixing liked Luhan, but right now he needed to get some work done.  
  
“Someone I used to work for. Said he ran into Zhi Xiang and his boyfriend at the Tigers game – and that the boyfriend happened to work with me.” Luhan fiddled with the edge of the cube, a mischievous look in his eyes.  
  
Yixing felt his cheeks grow warm. “What?!” He looked up from his work. “That’s ridiculous.”  
  
Luhan shrugged. “Just repeating what he said. I thought it was a little farfetched, since you two weren’t matched or anything.”  
  
Yixing’s face flamed brighter.  
  
“Kyungsoo seemed to think you were jealous of his conversation with Zhi Xiang. Said you murdered him with your eyes. Funny, huh? Considering I didn’t even know you guys were so close.”  
  
Yixing stuttered out a few sentences before burying his head back in his work. Luhan wandered away with a laugh, no longer finding entertainment in the conversation since he had already spilled the big news.  
  
Yixing found that his concentration was shot.  
  
He wasn’t Zhi Xiang’s boyfriend. No way. They were friends even if they had been matched by SAD. And it wasn’t jealousy that he was feeling when that no good Kyungsoo was talking to Zhi Xiang and making him laugh and–  
  
Yixing groaned, flake planting into his desk. When had he fallen this deep? And why was he the last to realize it?  
  
Or hopefully the last...the thought that Zhi Xiang knew made his heart pound against his ribcage.  
  
“I gotta stop this,” he mumbled to himself. “Before it gets too bad.”  
  
He was in love with Zhi Xiang. He was in love with Zhi Xiang and there was no way in hell he wanted it to happen. He had to do something.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
When Zhi Xiang called him that night he ignored it, too afraid of what he was feeling to answer. When he called the next day Yixing did the same, not wanting to face the fact he may just like the person that SAD matched him with.  
  
Was it his own stubborn ways that kept him from Zhi Xiang? Probably, he realized. It was the disbelief that SAD’s match could have aligned with his own wants and desires, and that maybe, just maybe, SAD didn’t make a mistake.  
  
“No, no, no,” he muttered to himself that night. “Impossible.”  
  
Because SAD made mistakes. Zhi Xiang and his sister were proof of that. Or, maybe they rarely made mistakes, like the manager at SAD had said.  
  
As each day passed his frustration grew but so did a feeling of sadness. He missed Zhi Xiang, no matter how much he wanted to push him from his mind.  
  
  
  
  
  
She was staring at him with _that_ look. The one that she gave him when he pulled her favorite Barbie doll’s head off because she painted on his action figure. The look that made every fiber in his being want to turn heel and run far, far away.  
  
“We need to talk.”  
  
Yixing swallowed. His sister had cornered him during his weekend visit to his Mother, all but pouncing on him the moment he walked in the door. With that look.  
  
“About what?” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, trying to imagine what it was that he had done this time.  
  
“I think you know what.”  
  
Uh oh. That was even worse.  
  
His mother gave them space, sing-songing that she was running to the store, a pleasant smile on her face as she left her two children alone.  
  
Yixing took a seat at the kitchen table, dread pooling in his stomach. His sister sat across from him, her arms crossed against her chest as she practically glared.  
  
“Why aren’t you talking to Zhi Xiang?”  
  
It was honestly the last thing he thought he would hear coming from her. She wasn’t a huge fan of her ex-husband, and last time he checked they didn’t even talk.  
  
“He thinks he did something wrong, and he won’t stop calling me to find out how you are.” Ah, so now she had her reason for intervening. “I didn’t realize you guys were dating, but whatever. Just talk to him so he stops talking to me.”  
  
“We’re not dating!” Yixing protested.  
  
His sister let out a heavy sigh. “Right.”  
  
“No, really!” Yixing felt his face grow warm.  
  
“You know, if you were dating I wouldn’t be mad if that is what you are worried about. What happened between Zhi Xiang and I is in the past, and we just were one huge mistake. If you want to, go for it. You guys always got along anyway.”  
  
“You really don’t mind?” Yixing was surprised. This was a new side to his sister.  
  
She shrugged. “If it makes you both happy go for it. Zhi Xiang wasn’t that bad of a guy. I think the problem was we just could never work no matter how much we tried, and that made us both less than stellar human beings for a while.”  
  
Yixing chewed his bottom lip, thinking. His sister was okay if he was dating Zhi Xiang? But then...wouldn’t that mean that SAD was right?! But she didn’t seem to care, and she was the one burnt the most by their mistake next to Zhi Xiang, of course. Was he just being a giant idiot about this whole thing?!  
  
“Does that mean SAD was right?” Yixing asked slowly, afraid for the answer.  
  
“Maybe. Does it matter though? I mean, if you’re happy. I can tell he likes you.”  
  
She was right, and he knew it. But now he had to figure out how to get passed ignoring Zhi Xiang for the last week.  
  
He internally debated the subject periodically while visiting with his family, but came up empty handed. If he was going to do this, he wanted to do it right. He wanted to apologize on a grand scale. But how?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Figuring out how to apologize to Zhi Xiang took up the remainder of Yixing’s week. Every idea he had didn’t seem suitable, didn’t seem to capture what he was trying to convey. He even went as far as looking up romantic apologies online, but chickened out at actually trying any of them. After all there was a sliver of a possibility that Zhi Xiang didn’t feel the same way – no matter what Yixing’s sister had said.  
  
When Friday rolled around, with more missed calls from Zhi Xiang, Yixing grew almost desperate enough to talk to Luhan about it to see if he had any ideas. It was a sign he was really desperate if he was going down that path.  
  
As he left work early on Friday afternoon he resigned himself to approaching the issue simplistically – he would stop by Zhi Xiang’s apartment and talk to him. A simple talk. A gauge of how the other man felt about him. An apology. An explanation.  
  
Yixing drove over to the older man’s apartment, his palms growing sweaty the closer he got. He rehearsed what he would say in his mind, but he had zero confidence his words would come out the way he wanted them to. He was too nervous, too uncertain.  
  
He somehow managed to make it the front door, his heart thudding in his chest as his finger hovered over the doorbell.  
  
And then he heard it.  
  
Giggling. Someone was giggling. Two people actually and it most certainly was coming from within Zhi Xiang’s apartment. Yixing froze up. Who was there?  
  
The jealousy came back, that ugly green eyed monster. It flamed within, making him grit his teeth and then turn around and stalk off. It almost made him get on the elevator, swearing off talking to Zhi Xiang again no matter the excuse. Okay, perhaps he could be a bit hot headed at times.  
  
“Yixing?”  
  
Yixing turned from the elevator to see Zhi Xiang standing outside his open doorway, his eyes wide as he looked at Yixing, the man who had been pretending like he didn’t exist for the last week. And peeking over his shoulder was no other than Yixing’s older sister.  
  
“What are you doing here?” Yixing blurted out, not caring how rude it sounded.  
  
“I had something to discuss.” She stepped out from behind her ex-husband. “You still haven’t talked to him?” She clucked her tongue at her younger brother.  
  
Her words only annoyed Yixing, making him jab his finger onto the down button with far too much energy. He ignored the fact Zhi Xiang was approaching, saying his name. He wanted to get out of there, because he was jealous. Because he was annoyed. Because his sister was in Zhi Xiang’s apartment giggling while he was standing out in the hall.  
  
When the elevator door opened Yixing made a move to get inside, but was stopped when Zhi Xiang reached out and put his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t go.”  
  
“Why? It looks like you two are having fun.” It was childish, he knew it to some degree, but he couldn’t help it.  
  
“Really?” Zhi Xiang raised his eyebrows. “Are you really going to be jealous of your sister?”  
  
Yixing didn’t answer.  
  
“What can I do to fix this? You haven’t talked to me in a week. Yixing, I am going crazy. What should I do?”  
  
Yixing’s mouth moved before his brain had analyzed exactly why he might not want to say what he did. “Marry me.”  
  
It was stupid. It was petty. It was fueled by jealousy and a lack of confidence. And damn did he regret it instantly.  
  
“What?!” His sister blurted out.  
  
Yixing expected Zhi Xiang to do the same, but instead he answered with a firm. “Okay. Do you have time now?”  
  
It was like a childish dare, one that neither of them would back down from. “Yep.”  
  
“Great. Will you be the witness?” Zhi Xiang asked his ex-wife.  
  
“Um, Yixing I don’t think you should do this without telling Mom.” When she noticed how determined her younger brother looked she finally relented. “Fine! But if you regret this I had no part in saying this was a good idea.”  
  
“Great, thanks. Shall we?” Zhi Xiang stepped into the elevator, holding the door open so Yixing and his sister could enter as well. Yixing took a step inside, and assumed a rigid posture. He was about to be a married man.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The clerk took one look at the wall clock and exhaled. “Are you certain you want to do this today?” she asked, glancing towards the open sign. The clerk’s office would be closed in ten minutes, they had made it with only minutes to spare.  
  
“Yes,” Zhi Xiang nodded.  
  
“Did you guys just get matched?” the clerk asked, clearly taking them for an overeager couple that had just met their soulmate.  
  
“Four years ago,” Yixing answered.  
  
She raised her eyebrows but didn’t ask any more questions.  
  
As Zhi Xiang began to fill out the paperwork, Yixing began to fidget. This was crazy, really crazy. The craziest thing he had ever done. Who would do something like this?  
  
Zhi Xiang. That is who. That is the only other person he knew that would go through with something so crazy, so spur of the moment.  
  
“I think we are soulmates,” he whispered, astounded that he hadn’t realized it until that moment. The flashes of the past months came to him. Of fast food dates, of singing songs from Cats. Of the roller derby, of late night movie marathons. Of text messages and old jokes. Of comfort and happiness and – “Zhi Xiang!”  
  
The older man glanced up from the paperwork.  
  
“I think we are soulmates.”  
  
His sister snorted and looked away, clearly amused. Zhi Xiang broke into a wide smile and then went back to signing his name on the marriage document. When it was Yixing’s turn to sign he had never felt so sure of something in his life. SAD was right. They were a match. A perfect match.  
  
They handed the paperwork into the clerk and watched as she beckoned for Yixing’s sister to sign before stamping the document. She perused it over the counter. “Congratulations, you are married.”  
  
Yixing looked at Zhi Xiang, seeing love in the other man’s eyes.  
  
“Now if you will please leave the office is closed. “ The clerk broke the magical moment.  
  
Yixing couldn’t help but laugh, a sentiment echoed by Zhi Xiang. As they left the clerk’s office, Yixing reached for Zhi Xiang’s hand. And then it occurred to him.  
  
“What did you need to talk to Zhi Xiang about?” Yixing asked his sister.  
  
“Ah, well,” she looked embarrassed. This was new. “I was matched again and this time it seems to be real. His name is Byun Baekhyun.”  
  
“Wait does he work...”  
  
“At SAD. Yep.” Zhi Xiang laughed.  
  
What were the odds?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“I can’t believe we did this.” Yixing stared at the piece of paper. It was sitting in the middle of Zhi Xiang’s coffee table, the newlyweds surveying it from afar.  
  
“I can, it seems like something we would do,” Zhi Xiang chuckled.  
  
“Yeah, I guess it does.” Yixing couldn’t hide the smile, the happiness that had come upon him with their sudden marriage. He was confident in it, more confident than he had ever been in anything.  
  
They were married. A married couple. They could do what married couples do like…Suddenly Yixing felt embarrassed. He fell silent as his face grew warm.  
  
Zhi Xiang seemed to know exactly what was on his mind – but honestly that was no surprise. He scooted closer to Yixing, the smell of his cologne sending shivers down Yixing’s spine.  
  
“I love you,” Zhi Xiang said quietly.  
  
Their legs were pressed together, but neither man made a move.  
  
“I love you too,” Yixing felt odd saying it out loud.  
  
They didn’t say anything for a few moments, each feeling the gravity of what they had just done.  
  
“Does this mean we get to roller derby every day or…” Zhi Xiang broke the silence, causing Yixing to laugh.  
  
“Sure.” Yixing felt his heart swell as he looked at his soulmate – no, his new husband.  
  
It wasn’t a surprise when their lips met, when their hands began to explore each other in slow, languid movements. They weren’t fast and furious with their movements, each taking the time to get to know the other.  
  
When Yixing slowly unbuttoned Zhi Xiang’s shirt, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. That this was his– that Zhi Xiang was his. And a few minutes later, when he sunk down on Zhi Xiang’s cock, crying out in a mixture of pleasure and pain, his sense of possessiveness and pride never left him.  
  
They enjoyed each other’s bodies, riding a wave of ecstasy until they were both crying out. And after they had both found their release Yixing slumped forward, burying his head in the crook of Zhi Xiang’s neck. He felt boneless, completely exhausted.  
  
The television droned on but it might as well have been white noise, Yixing wasn’t paying attention. The only thing he could focus on was how amazing he felt, how amazing Zhi Xiang had made him feel.  
  
 _Breaking News_  
  
He didn’t even bother looking at the screen, his eyes closed. Zhi Xiang was rubbing his back, gently caressing his sweat slicked skin. It felt nice, a happy afterglow.  
  
 _We have received reports that the Soulmate Administration Division has been ordered by the federal government to stop matches immediately. After a lengthy investigation, it was discovered that SAD’s self-proclaimed magical algorithm was in fact just a random mix and match program with no scientific proof behind it._  
  
Yixing tensed.  
  
“We have reporter Kim Junmyeon at the scene of the SAD headquarters. Junmyeon, what are you seeing?”  
  
“Thanks, Minho. As you can see behind me the staff are being led out in cuffs…”  
  
Yixing turned very slowly, stilling at the image of the man who had matched him with Zhi Xiang being led away in handcuffs. He was struggling, his whines loud above the crowd.  
  
“I didn’t do anything! I swear the algorithm is super scientific!”  
  
Wait, wasn’t that his sister’s match?! Her new love? Yixing swallowed, then turned slowly back to look at Zhi Xiang.  
  
“So um…” Yixing smiled uneasily.  
  
“What are the chances,” Zhi Xiang smirked.  
  
They shared an uptight and uncomfortable laugh before the room went silent, aside from the news broadcast. After a few seconds Yixing asked, “So does that mean we should um, not–”  
  
“Hey, we’re married,” Zhi Xiang quickly cut in. “and I don’t care what SAD had to do with it.”  
  
Yixing smiled, feeling instantly relieved. “Right, we’re married.”  
  
“Your sister is going to break him out of jail, you know that, right?”  
  
Yixing nodded, smiling at the mental image.  
  
Zhi Xiang reached forward, cupping Yixing’s cheeks in his hand. He gently moved Yixing forward until their lips were pressed together. In the background the news broadcast went on, but neither man was listening.  
  
 _Byun Baekhyun, who masqueraded as a clerk at SAD, was apparently the mastermind behind the trick, assuring others that the database was free from flaws and completely reliable. Now the country is left to ask – just what is a soulmate, and just who did we all marry? This is Kim Junmyeon reporting live on the scene, back to Choi Minho in the studio.  
  
Junmyeon, I mean reporter Kim, are you insinuating our marriage–  
  
Minho, we are in the middle of a live broadcast can this wait for later?  
  
Ha, right. On to other top stories…_

 


End file.
